Coming Home
by IceWing
Summary: Faith returns to SunnyDale with Xander after her release from prison. - A Divergent Destinies Story
1. Part One

Coming Home  
  
A Divergent Destinies Story (Set After Lonely Letters)  
  
By IceWing (icewing@one.net)  
  
  
  
The sun was high in the mid-day sky as the pale blue convertible passed the sign welcoming one and all to Sunnydale. Inside, the each of the two occupants had vastly different expressions. The driver was rather calm, although a touch of apprehension lurked beneath his subtle smirk. He knew that for once, things were going to go his way, even if he had to pummel the Fates themselves to insure it.  
  
The passenger, a dark haired beauty who had left town under circumstances that she wasn't exactly proud of, more than a bit nervous. Her eyes followed the sign as the car moved past it.  
  
The driver could sense it, and took her hand in his, gently squeezing it. "I'm right here beside you Faith. Its going to be ok."  
  
Sighing, Faith replied. "I know, Xander. Its just that, I mean, look how badly I screwed up. Not even just the last time I was here, but before…" Her voice wavered for a moment before she continued. "Before Graduation. I completely went off the deep end and people, good people, died as a result. I just don't know if I'm ready for all of this." She paused again, "Hell, I don't even know if I deserve a second chance."  
  
"You do, and you know it. Sure, you made a mistake, and some bad things happened because of it. Nobody knows that more than you do, Faith. But, you're only human. You're not perfect, no more so than I am or anybody else for that matter. And, as a point in your defense, you've also saved the world more times than about six billion people combined."  
  
"I've only done that a couple of times," said Faith. "And both times I wasn't the only one involved. Hell, I wasn't even the big gun."  
  
"But the fact remains that you've helped Save the WORLD Faith. That means that you've saved the lives of a few billion people."  
  
Faith looked down, clenching her hands in her lap. "But it doesn't bring back either that Professor or Finch."  
  
"No, it doesn't. No matter what you do in your life, you're right. You have still killed two people who didn't deserve it. One was an accident. We both know that…"  
  
"But the other wasn't."  
  
"You're right. It wasn't. But you have put that path behind you Faith." As he made a turn onto a relatively nice street, he glanced over at the insecure young woman beside him. "You're not that person anymore. You're doing good now and you know it. So no brooding or doubting yourself. You're back on the right side now, and you're going to stay there."  
  
Faith looked over at him, still unsure of herself. "You really think I can do this?"  
  
"If I didn't think you could do it, if I thought you were the person you were in danger of becoming, then I wouldn't be here Faith." He squeezed her hand softly. "But notice, I am here. And I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Faith changed the subject in order to try and push her doubts down. "By the way, if you don't mind my asking, where we headed to?" The raven haired Slayer looked around, noting the large and huge houses nestled back on lots the size of city blocks back in Boston. "Doesn't exactly look like the kind of neighborhood that houses apartments."  
  
Xander grinned. "What can I say. I'm a moving on up."  
  
Faith groaned at his bad singsong of the theme song. "I'm on probation Xander. Please don't make me kill you," she joked as the car made another turn. Catching a glimpse of the street sign and recognizing the area a bit, Faith quickly turned to Xander, disbelief on her face.  
  
"I take it you recognize the area?" Xander said with a smirk as he turned the car into a driveway.  
  
"How'd you get Angel to let you stay at his mansion?"  
  
"See, there you go making assumptions," he said with a grin as the both of them stepped out of the car. "Let me just start by saying that the next time Angel comes to town, if he wants to stay here, he'll have to ask the owner for permission to crash. Which of course, I'll let him."  
  
"You'll let him?" Faith couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice.  
  
"That's right. I picked it up from the city for a steal a couple of months ago. Seems that they wanted to unload it, and not too many people were interested. Something about wild animal attacks and 'really ugly squatters' in the area." He was almost beaming as he grabbed her duffle. "We'll have to use the side door. I'm still working on a lot of things inside and out." Leading the way, he continued speaking. "I've been working on it in all of my free time, but there's still a lot of work I need to do." He reached into his pocket and handed her a small key ring. "You want the honors?"  
  
Faith looked at the keys in her hand, then up at Xander in disbelief. "These aren't your keys," she said.  
  
"No, those are yours." He set her duffle down carefully and wrapped his arms around her. "Welcome home Faith."  
  
End Coming Home  
  
Ok Folks, there the next installment… I have a whole lot more slated for Divergent Destinies, including a followup to the Zeppo, Xander's first visit to Caritas, and a whole lot more… Also, I have been working on An Eternal War again (but chapter 18 is a bear) as well as the next chapter of Fallen From Grace (have the next several chapters mapped out and they all rock.) So, I've been doing my part… So, keep my muse happy and leave some feedback. I know you folks are reading so please take a moment and let me know what you think. It only takes a tiny bit of time and feedback feeds my Muse (and man, does she get cranky when she's hungry). Anyway, enough prattle. Go read another story. 


	2. Part Two

Coming Homebr Part Twobr A Divergent Destinies Story (Set After Lonely Letters)br By IceWing (IceWing@one.net)br  
  
** ** ** **  
  
With more than a bit of worry, Faith set the tip of the key against the lock. It was all so much, so quickly. A few months ago, she didn't have a friend in the world. Then the letters had started. A few weeks ago, she thought she was going to spend the next few years in prison. A few hours ago, she had been sitting on a hard prison bed, worrying what was in store for her once she was released back into the world.  
  
Now, she had a friend by her side. A person who had reached out to her, for no greater reason than that he thought she was better than even she believed. Who wanted to be by her side as she took these tentative steps towards redemption.  
  
Faith turned her head back to Xander, who was simply standing there watching her. "Go on," he encouraged. "If you're going to live here, you really need to be able to unlock the door." His smile did more to reassure her that this was real than all the rest of her senses combined. Cautiously, as if she half believed the door was some kind of illusion, she turned the key in the lock and pushed the surprisingly heavy door open.  
  
Inside, the kitchen stood, in its half redone condition. Xander looked at Faith as she stood there. "Sorry about the shape things are in. Like I said, I only got the place a couple of months ago. And until recently, I wasn't overly worried about getting it done. Between patrolling, and you know other Hellmouthy type events and working during the days, I haven't had a lot of time to finish up the remodeling. A couple of rooms are done, but the rest is going to take a couple more."  
  
Faith cut him off before he could finish. "Xander, you don't have to say anything. I'd be happy with a leaky roof over my head.." 'And have been,' she added silently to herself. "I don't deserve this." Faith kept staring at the huge kitchen and dining area through the doorway.  
  
"Well, in my defense, I actually bought it to rehab and, maybe rent out or something. But I figured, with you coming back into town, you'd need a room, I can get out of my old apartment into a room here, and we're both cool. Plus, my old place has too many memories associated with it. Now, are we going to admire the patched, yet unpainted kitchen walls from out here, or shall I give you the nickel tour from the inside of the walls?"  
  
Faith still stood there, looking back and forth between him and the house that he was opening up to her. So many thoughts were running through her head, that she didn't know where to start calming them down. But it was a cool house, she thought with a smile.  
  
Apparently, the smile crossed her lips as well as her mind. "What?" asked Xander with a grin on his own face.  
  
Faith looked at him, and the smile grew, till it seemed to shine like a spotlight. "Well, I mean, if we're moving in together and all." With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hopped up against his chest. Instinctively, Xander brought his arms up and caught her. "Then it only seems fair that you carry me across the thresh hold."  
  
"Well, I have to say, I like the idea of a beautiful woman in my arms." Faith laughed as Xander smiled at her. With an ease which surprised her, Xander hefted her up, getting a better grip on her and then strode into the kitchen, both of them smiling as he did so. The two of them looked at each other as he stood there, holding her in his arms.  
  
//maybe put a bit in here about their thoughts?//  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, Faith swung herself free and landed on the balls of her feet. "Well, I'd offer to start slaving away in the kitchen now, but A., I can't cook worth a damn and B., the kitchen looks like an industrial accident."  
  
"Give it a couple more weeks, this place will be like something off a home and garden magazine. After that, well, maybe we'll be able to do something about your cooking." Xander took a couple of steps away from Faith, not the direction he really wanted to go though, and grabbed her duffel from the walk. He set it carefully on the kitchen table before offering to take faith on the nickel tour.  
  
After a few minutes, he had shown her the entire ground floor and moved upstairs to the second floor. He explained that when it was done, he was going to have a research library, computer room, gym, armory and finally the entertainment room, because if he was going to have a huge house, its having a room for his play station.  
  
As they climbed the stairs to the third story, Xander started to kind look sheepish. "The is one small thing that I have to fix before things are really comfortable." They stepped into the hallway which ran the length of the floor. "Well, I should just come out and say it. This place is going to have five bedrooms up here, but right now. Well, both your room and mine are going to have their own bathrooms. Eventually. But right now, there's only one working in the whole house. It's at the end of the hall."  
  
Faith looked at Xander, who looked kind of ashamed at his admission. And then she started to laugh.  
  
Xander looked at her as if she'd grown a third arm. "You're not mad?" he asked.  
  
"Hell no. Why would I be mad? I've been sharing a communal shower for the past few years."  
  
With a sigh, Xander showed her the bathroom, which he explained was one of two rooms in the whole house which he had gotten finished. He pointed out the linen closet off to one side where all the towels were. The laundry chute, which Faith thought looked big enough to take her, which opened up down in the basement next to the washer and drier. But what Faith was most impressed with was the shower and tub setup. The shower opened down into a Jacuzzi tub, which looked big enough to hold an elephant.  
  
"There's a hot tub out back as well, although I have some work to do on it before its working again. The pump had gotten plugged with some kind of slime that I don't want to think about and burned out."  
  
"Why all the luxury items?"  
  
"Well, I don't know about Slayers, but personally, I tend to come home from patrols with one giant bruise. The complex where my apartment was had a hot tub and it felt SOOO good afterwards that I sprung for this as a form of physical therapy. Don't worry, both our bathrooms will be set up the same way. Now, speaking of which, our rooms." Xander led her out of the bathroom and asked which she'd rather see first.  
  
Impulsively, she said his, and that was where he lead her.  
  
"Like I said, it's not done yet." With that he pushed the door open and let Faith enter and roam around.  
  
It wasn't much yet, Faith noted. But she could see what it would be like when it was done. First she scouted out the walk-in closet, noting that there was what looked to be a couple of hidden compartments shaping up. "Weapons?" Xander nodded, and explained that he was going to have a least one hidden weapons cache in each room. He then pointed out one, which was above the mattress and box spring setting on the floor, and another built into the chest of drawers he was crafting. "What about the other one in the closet?"  
  
Xander shrugged and said that it seemed like a good idea to have a couple of bigger ones throughout the house. In case he had a dead demon laying around and some asshole like Detective Stein or his ilk showed up. There was at least one on each floor.  
  
Finally Faith stuck her head out the sliding glass door that opened onto a balcony. "Nice view," she noted.  
  
"And if you look to your right, you can see your very own veranda."  
  
The Dark Slayer looked over and indeed, a few feet away from the far rail of his balcony was another.  
  
"I like it Xander," she said as she stepped back inside and slid the door shut behind her. "A bit rough around the edges, but its gonna be slick once its done."  
  
"Don't worry," he said as he led her back into the hallway and to her room. "Your room is. Well, see for yourself."  
  
He stood back and watched as she swung open the door to her room.  
  
What she saw took her breath away.  
  
In the center of the far wall of the room was a huge bed, complete with an antique curved iron headboard, footer and canopy of white silken material. The comforter on draped down to the raised platform on which the entire piece sat. A dresser similar to the one she had seen partially finished in Xander's room sat against another wall, while a full height wardrobe, twin mirrors inlaid in the doors, stood next to the entry to her own bathroom. On the opposite wall, the one that Xander's room lay on the far side of, there was a small desk and a couple of chairs. In the corner, beside the entry to her own walk in closet, stood a decorative lamp. Overhead, a ceiling fan gently spun.  
  
The walls were done in a soft golden color which currently shone from the sunlight which came through the sliding door and defused through the drapes which were currently drawn closed. The hardwood floors had soft rugs covering part of them.  
  
Words were too much for Faith right then. In all of her life, she had never seen a room like this. Even the apartment that the Mayor had set her up in had been nothing like this. And it meant all the more, because it had been done specifically for her, by Xander, at the expense of his own room and the rest of the house.  
  
She spun around and wrapped her arms around him. To say he was surprised was an understatement. But he smiled as he wrapped his own arms around her, holding her close. He could feel her shaking in his embrace, as tears flowed. After a few moments, Faith had gotten control of herself again and he let her go.  
  
"So," he grinned. "You like it?"  
  
"Xander, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful. And you did all of this yourself."  
  
"Actually, I just did the painting and stuff. The real credit belongs to the dozen or so decorating magazines I bought before I started redoing this place. Once I could see the end goal, it was easy."  
  
Faith doubted that easy was accurate, but she was still too amazed to argue about it. She almost ran inside the room and flung herself on the bed. "Oh god Xander, this is just to good. Come here and feel this!"  
  
"Actually, I already have. I picked out the mattresses for both of us, remember." He did smile at the sight of Faith so obviously happy in her new room. After letting her run around for a couple more minutes, he showed her the hidden compartments in the platform her bed rested on, as well as how to open the finished ones in the walls and her closet.  
  
"Same layout as in yours?" she asked as she leaned in the jumbo sized compartment. Before he could answer, she continued. "Geez Xander this secret compartment is the size of a broom closet. And the closet is bigger than my cell was."  
  
"Well, they used to build em big. Figured might as well put the space to good use. We'll have to get you some stuff to put in here too. I loaded the weapons caches up already with some standard stuff, but a lot more downstairs in the garage, at least till I get the rest of the place finished. Didn't want the building inspector to find anything weird."  
  
"Its going to take me a while to fill this much closet space up. I don't think all my old gear would have even made much of a dent in here."  
  
"Did you have anything stashed anyplace from before?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I had some stuff at my apartment," said Faith as played the fabric of the canopy between her fingers. "I swung through there when I woke up, but its was pretty much emptied."  
  
Xander looked a bit uncomfortable as she said that, but she missed it due to the fact that her back was to him.  
  
"There were a few things I would have like to have kept, but most of it was no big loss."  
  
Xander nodded, deep in thought, as she turned back towards him. "Well," he said. "Its early still, plenty of time left in the day. Want to take a crack at filling some closet space?"  
  
"I don't know. I mean, I need stuff, but." she hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.  
  
Xander walked over and set down next to her on the edge of the bed. Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it gently. "Faith, no matter what, you can talk to me. What's wrong?"  
  
She looked over at him, and not for the first time that day, he saw the doubt and hesitancy that the Faith of old never would have let anyone else see. "It's a bunch of things. I don't want to run into B or Red, not yet anyway. And, well, I don't have any cash to buy anything with."  
  
"As for Buffy and Willow, they're in Berkley this weekend at some magic convention. So don't worry about them. And as for money." Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wallet-like item. He handed it to her. "You never struck me as a purse kinda girl."  
  
Faith nervously took the leather holder and opened it. Inside, she found a state ID, a social security card, a visa bank card. And what looked like about a dozen hundred dollar bills. "Xander. I. How?"  
  
"Well, I guess that maybe qualifies as a complete sentence. I called in a couple of favors and managed to get a state ID for you. I tried for a driver's license, but they won't issue those without record of you passing the test. It's all legit. As for the card, well, I set up an account with you as a secondary user. We have to swing by the bank to get you to sign some card otherwise you can't make withdrawals at the counter. There's plenty of cash in the account, about seventy five hundred as of this morning."  
  
Faith couldn't believe it. "I can't take this Xander. You worked hard for your money. You keep it." She started to pull the cash out of the wallet, but before she could, his hand closed over top of hers.  
  
"You're gonna have to believe me when I say that money isn't an issue."  
  
"Xander, there's no way you can afford to give me all this. This place alone," she waved at the room he had prepared for her, "must have cost you ten grand."  
  
"Money's not an issue Faith." He hesitated a moment before continuing. "Look, you know I've been patrolling for a while, right?" She nodded. "Well, I make fighting evil pay for itself. A lot of the bad guys that we square off against, well, they may be evil, but they weren't poor. After they're dealt with, I rifle through their stuff and take anything that looks useful, expensive or. well, pretty much I take everything. Its not like they need it anymore, and if I just left it laying around, it'd either go to waste or some other bad guy would use it."  
  
Faith thought about this for a moment. "Makes sense. I mean, I know the Mayor grabbed a lot of stuff from demons he killed early on." As she was looking down at her hands, she missed the sheepish look that crossed Xander's face at the mention of the mayor, or more accurately, his possessions. "Like they say, to the victors go the spoils." She looked up at his with a wicked grin on her face. "So how much are you worth these days anyway?"  
  
"Lets just say I paid for this place, and all the improvements, in cash."  
  
"Well, in that case." She pulled him off the bed. "Let's go, I'm starving!"  
  
** ** ** **  
  
Read this and my other works at http://sq.dyndns.org/icewing  
  
Coming Soon: br br Fallen from Grace: Chapter 10br Divergent Destinies: Life Withoutbr Divergent Destinies: Déjà vubr An Eternal War: Chapter 18br 


	3. Part Three

Coming Home - Part 3  
(A Divergent Destiny Story )  
(Visit http:\\www.scrollandquill.org\icewing for the most up to date chronology and completed stories.  
Written by IceWing (icewing@one.net) 

"So," said Faith as they headed out to the garage. "There any good restaurants in town these days?" 

"Well, the Red Coral burned down last summer. Mario's is on the other side of town. Niecy's got bulldozed on Monday, but they're going to build a new one, a lot bigger too. Kinda sucks, because that's the best pizza in town…" Xander looked at Faith, noticing a somewhat perplexed look on her face. "Faith, you ok?" 

It took her a second to answer. "Yeah, my brain's just a little fuzzy. I mean, I can kinda remember those last two. I know I've eaten at them, but, its like its fuzzy or something." She paused again. "Did… Did we eat there together?" 

"Oh, you wound me deeply… Yeah, I took you there when you found out about my zombie adventures…" 

"Yeah, that's right." In her mind, Faith remembered how the night had started out ok, but had ended up with… Damn, what had happened that night? Something had come up, right after the pizza had come out of this kitchen. But the memories were slippery and slid away before she could really remember too much… 

Xander noticed Faith's silence, but misinterpreted it. He reached over and gently squeezed her hand, reassuring her that he was there, and that everything was going to be ok. 

The touch of his hand around her's reassured her. Inwardly, Faith was a bit nervous. She knew that she should be able to remember, but the memories, she couldn't reach them… Taking a deep breath, she focused on the now instead. She'd try and figure out what was going on later on in the evening. "So, where're we going then?" 

"Well, what're you in the mood for?" 

Faith thought about it for a moment before answering that some barbeque sounded pretty good. 

Hearing that, Xander thought for a moment, before mentioning that there was a place down on Milpas Street he'd heard good 

things about, called Johnny's Rib Shack. Some of the guys at work gave it good recommendations. 

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way…" 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** 

"Oh, that definitely hit the spot," she said as she stretched out on the passenger seat. 

Xander chuckled and shook his head. "I swear, you're about the only girl I know who can eat as much as me and still have such a svelte figure. Two complete meals and," he said with a grin, "yet you still stole some of my fries!" Not noticing Faith's slightly embarrassed look, Xander opened his door and slid into the driver's seat. "So, you have any preference on where we go shopping?" 

"How about that big mall down on State Street?" 

Xander responded that sounded good to him and with that they pulled out of the parking lot and headed downtown. 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** 

"Come on Xander, you're the one that wanted to take me shopping," said Faith, a wicked grin on her face. "And I even helped you carry the bags out to the truck." 

"Oh lucky me," he responded, rolling his eyes, but with a small smile. "Anyway, its my turn to pick now." He took her hand and led her to one of the music mega-stores which served as a secondary anchor store for the mall. 

"This place any good?" 

"Well, its where I got most of the mini-discs that I sent you, so offhand, I'll go with yes." 

The two wandered around the Morning-Glory Music for close to an hour, before heading up to the cashier with their selections. 

Faith had picked out almost a half dozen mini-discs, ranging from Stevie Nicks, DJ Mary Jane, two sounds of nature CD's and a techno-trance bit called Viral 16. Xander on the other hand had picked up two CD's as well as a pack of guitar strings. 

"Since when do you play guitar, Xan-man?" 

"Huh?" said Xander as he paid for the purchases. "Oh the strings. Well, I guess its been a, I don't know, since junior year." 

Faith made a kind of 'come on, spit it out' gesture. 

"Not really all that much to tell." He thought for a minute. "Well, maybe there is. When I was in middle school, I won a contest for a month stay at a music camp. I'd never touched… Well, I'd never played an instrument before…" Memories of being hit with a recorder flashed through is mind before he could drive them back down. "Anyway, I had a pretty good time. Made friends with one of the counselor's, a guy named Eric. We kinda became pen pals for a while, but then I got a couple letters back when I sent them. Stamped with deceased. Then about a year later, I got the guitar in the mail. There was a letter, saying he and shelly were moving on, but he wanted me to have the guitar. I tried to write him again, but same thing. Letters returned by the post office, marked deceased. I never really knew what to think of that, even once I found out about the whole nightlife thing." 

"You any good?" 

Xander shrugged. "Not bad I guess. I play at it sometimes… Play along with Eric…" He saw the confused look on Faith's face and explained that he'd gotten a copy of an album Eric's band, Hangman's Joke, had put out and played along with it sometimes. 

"A gift from beyond… Weird." 

As he took the bags and they walked out of the store, Xander laughed. "Faith, this is SunnyDale. Normal would be weird here… The whole guitar thing, its par for the course…" 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** 

Carlos couldn't for the life of him understand why he kept agreeing to come to the mall with Dawn and Kit. He never got to hang out in the arcade any more, or at any of the electronics stores. All he managed to do was serve as a bag carrier, and fashion observer. Not really his idea of a great time. "The things I do for you two," he muttered. At least Dawn hadn't been able to buy much today, so he only had one of her bags, as opposed to the three he was lugging around for Kit. There had to be some justice in the world, but then again, this was the town under which the Hellmouth hid. 

Leaning against the edge of the railing, he watched the people milling about on the first and second floors. Always plenty of time to people watch while the girls window shopped. And in SunnyDale, there were almost as many non-humans and regular folks, which made the people watching all the more interesting. He felt a bit of pride as he picked out a vampire in the crowd. 'Yeah, you need to be shopping at the mall, dude. That outfit is so dated even I know it.' 

He continued to watch, letting the minutes drift by. A familiar face broke through the crowd down below. He thought about yelling down to Xander, but decided against it as he noticed the extremely hot chick in the UCLA sweat shirt. Never a good idea to bother a brother when he's on a date. After taking a moment to admire the view a bit more, he headed back to the store where the girls were. Xander had seemed pretty tight with the girl, considering how close to each other they were. He needed to razz Dawn for not mentioning this new interest in Xander's life. After all, since he'd been initiated into the group, his dates had been the subject of more than one pre-relationship screening. 

Dawn and Kit were walking away from the cashier, another bag in hand, as Carlos approached. "Hey Ladies, you'll never guess who I just saw downstairs with some college girl." 

The younger Summers female took in the smirking attitude and knew immediately that Carlos was once again trying to make fun of her for her mostly moved beyond crush of Xander. "Oh, and I suppose you think that I'm jealous?" 

"Well, that's an added bonus, but actually, I was mostly wondering why we haven't heard of this mystery woman. They were almost bumping hips as they walked into Abercrombie." 

Dawn tried to play it off, but she was a bit worried on a couple of levels. First, Xander had been playing some cards pretty close to his chest of late. Not anything specific, but he'd pretty much stopped coming by the house for the past couple of weeks. That wasn't a huge factor in itself, but coupled with the lessened contact with the rest of the gang, well it just worried her. "Any bets on how long she'll last once she finds out about Xander's nocturnal activities?" 

This had turned into a ritual for the combined Scooby/Scrappy Gang. Every time one of them started to date, there was a pool formed, with five dollar bets for each six hour time block, to see how long the uninitiated would stick around once they discovered the truth about the SunnyDale nightlife and the gang's role in holding back the tide. Not surprisingly, Giles usually won, having had the most experience in breaking people of their worldviews, but Kit was catching up on him steadily. 

Kit answered first. "Well without meeting her, there's no way to be able to form an opinion. Plus, how serious are they? We're at a disadvantage here because we don't know how long they've been together, what she's like, or if she maybe already knows." 

"Don't know. She's pretty enough to be some kind of model or something, nice body as well. Doesn't seem like the kind of girl he's normally with, or tries to be with anyway. My bet, less than a week." 

"You're a real dog Carlos, you know that right?" Dawn looked at her two friends as the solo male Scrappy made some lame barking noises. "Tell you what, you guys finish shopping, I'll give you a yell tonight, ok?" 

"Dawn, promise you're not going to go all jealous stalker type on the guy." 

"Not gonna happen," she replied. "I just need to touch base with him." 

"Cool, we'll catch you later then." And with that the three friends parted ways, Carlos and Kit heading to Suncoast Video, Dawn heading down the escalator to the first floor. 

As she entered the store, Dawn couldn't help but wondering what Xander was doing in here. This was just SO not a Xander store. He was more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. Must be this mystery woman. Dawn felt herself tense up a bit at the thought. She tried to convince herself that it was just an honest appreciation for Xander's track record when it came members of the opposite sex. 'Ampata, Mantis Lady, and Anya. All members of the demonic persuasion. Oh, and Drusilla… Can't forget the insane vampiric psycho-bitch.' Then there were the normal humans. Ok, it was a pretty empty category, since Cordelia only half qualified even on her best day. Then the strong female protector of mankind types… 

Before she could finish her thought, she saw Xander, leaning against the wall near the back of the store. 

She meandered over to him, moving from row to row, keeping out of sight until she was almost directly beside him. "So, do you think this dress would look good crumpled up at the bottom of your bed?" 

Xander jumped halfway out of his skin, then turned to face her. "Jesus Christ Dawn, you scarred the crap out of me! That was just evil… Evil I say!" 

As she stood there smiling at him, she saw the look on his face go from shock to anxiety in less than a heartbeat. Apparently, whoever this girl was, he was definitely trying to keep her a secret. Or, she decided as she thought about it, he cares about her so much that he's afraid the whole Hellmouth thing is going to run her off. 

"So, Xander, what brings you to the mall on such a nice day?" 

"Umm, I just thought maybe I could use some new, umm, shirts. Maybe some jeans as well… So, here I am." 

Dawn grinned. This was just too easy. "So, where are these clothes you're getting? Let me give you my expert fashion sense…" 

"Oh well, I was waiting for…" He looked at Dawn. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be out with the Scrappy's today?" 

"Carlos saw you, mentioned it. And since you've been stealth guy the last month or so, I thought I'd ditch them and come hang out with you instead. I mean, you're here all by yourself, with…" she looked down at the bags by his feet. "With your bags of clothes that look suspiciously like they're for a woman…" Her eyes glinted with laughter as she looked back up at him. "So, either Larry was closer than we thought, or there's something you're not telling me…" She let her voice trail off in almost a singsong voice. 

The door to the fitting room opened, and Faith stepped out. Her eyes were on the mirrors set on and into the opposite wall, so she missed the young woman standing with her back to Faith, who was talking to Xander. Had she been paying attention, she would have seen the twitch he was developing, or the fact that he swallowed nervously as she turned, watching the look of the pants in the mirror. 

'Ok,' thought Dawn. "This is just weird. First he's all jittery, and nervous. Now he looks like he's just realized there's a train about to derail in front of him. What the hell is going on here?' 

Faith leaned first one way, then the other, as a quick stretch. "What do you think, Xan? They look good on me, and plenty of stretch in them..." She twisted, then did several high kicks before bringing her shin up near her face. "Pretty damn solid if you ask me." 

As the voice behind her spoke, Dawn turned around, noting the look of near panic on Xander's face as she did so. 

Dropping her foot back down, she turned to face Xander. "Yeah, these are... DAWN!!" 

"Faith?" came the half whispered word, disbelief evident in the voice of Dawn Summers. 

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End - Coming Home Part 3   
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